Author: Neil Merrett

Dengue task force to hand control to Health Ministry as outbreak calms

The Ministry of Health is expected to once again take the reins of the national response to a dengue fever outbreak linked to the deaths of eight Maldivians this year, after last week handing control of the focus to a task force appointed to bring island management of the disease under a single body.

A spokesperson for the task force, which has attempted to combine the efforts of the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), government ministries and NGOs, said the body expected its work to be “wound down” today, with the Ministry of Health once again taking control of efforts after infection rates were said to have fallen.

The task force had initially been budgeted to operate from within the social centre at Maafanu School in Male’ for seven days. However, despite initial optimism that the outbreak – which has been labelled by the government as an “epidemic” – would be under control in this time, doubts arose later during last week about the likelihood of meeting such a deadline.

Speaking to Minivan News today, a media spokesperson for the task force said it once again expected management of the virus outbreak to revert back to the Health Ministry, after having itself overcome a number of difficulties allegedly including collaborating with recently established local councils.

“We are seeing the number of confirmed cases dropping once again and I expect we will be winding up our work today,” the spokesperson added. The spokesperson claimed that Male’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) was itself now returning to normal operations after adapting several wards and surgeries specifically to coping with dengue during the outbreak.

On Thursday (July 7), several Male’-based hospitals including IGMH said that although they were busy continuing to deal with a significant numbers of patients suspected of contracting the virus, the situation was said to be under “control” by some senior management staff.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Abdulla Nazeer, who has spoken on behalf of the taskforce created by President Mohamed Nasheed to combat the outbreak, said he was “glad to say the situation is under control and we are winding up our work and will transfer it to the Health Ministry.”
During its work the taskforce had identified several factors that contributed to the difficulty of managing dengue outbreaks, he noted.
“Number one is a lack of proper communication between the Health Ministry and local councils,” he said. “The second was that they did not have the capacity to resolve the issues.”
“Councillors on some islands thought it was not in their mandate to follow the requests of the task force,” he added. “The MNDF and local authorities had to intervene, and the councillors realised it was a matter of national safety.”

Government view

In addressing the work undertaken as part of a collaborative approach to disease control , Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair claimed that the initiative’s work in identifying and focusing on regional and island prevention measures would ensure the government was better prepared in the future for similar outbreaks.

“The government’s main focus has remained targeting mosquito breeding grounds, particularly areas such lakes and stagnant water collections,” he said. “However, we have also been working on community focal points where we have focused many types of control measures.”

Zuhair claimed these control measures had been focused specifically on trying to put more emphasis on focusing on island communities to identify possible difficulties with dengue, despite reports from the dengue task force of initial coordination problems in working with the local councillors.

A spokesperson for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press over its views of the government’s response in dealing with the dengue epidemic” of recent weeks.

Yet over the course of last week DRP Spokerson Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef, reiterated his belief to the press that the government had “bungled” their response to trying to control dengue fever. Shareef added that although the DRP welcomed and would cooperate with the government in efforts to try and limit the spread of the virus, he said that authorities had acted too slowly in trying to deal with the outbreak.

“From what we have seen the government is just not doing enough. We don’t believe they have been willfully negligent, but there has been negligence in their approach [to dengue outbreak],” he claimed. “They have not responded fast enough, which could be inexperience on their part. But I think this will be a wake-up call for them to change policy in dealing with these type of situations.”

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Tiny Hearts praises record attempt as “huge success” for charity in the Maldives

Maldivian NGO Tiny Hearts might have fallen short in its attempts to secure a place in the Guinness book of World Records, despite thousands of people turning up at Male’ National Stadium yesterday, yet the NGO said the event was nonetheless a great success for charitable aims in the country.

The NGO, which was formed back in 2009 to help local children suffering with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD), attempted to gather thousands of people into a heart shape to raise awareness about the number of Maldivians affected by the condition. The charity estimates that one person in every 100 born around the world suffers from a CHD.

According to organisers of late nights record attempt, the target number for participants needed to enter the record books was 11,708 – a figure corresponding to the date of the attempt July 8 2011 – with 4,665 turning up to be involved.

Although not sufficient to make the record books after several attempts yesterday evening, a spokesperson for tiny hearts said that as a means to create awareness and organise local people to a cause, the event was still a success for the group.

“Ultimately, we aimed to get as many people together as possible to raise awareness [about CHD] across the country. We therefore achieved our objective,” said the spokesperson. “We managed to organise thousands of people together for a single cause, with no salaried staff: this is a huge success.”

Future goals

Yesterday’s event was designed as a means to celebrate two years of Tiny Hearts being registered as a charity in the country. Yet in looking ahead to its future goals, the NGO’s spokesperson said that it was not presently planning to renew its attempts to break into the record books – focusing instead on fundraising measures.

“Right now, we are trying to minimise costs in looking for events for funding,” the spokesperson said. “At present one surgery [for a local child] costs US$5,000, this does not include additional charges for transportation abroad. People affected by CHD are increasing all the time in a country. We have more than 200 children registered with the charity and there are likely to be an even larger number unregistered.”

Last year, a charity football match organised by the charity involving public figures and celebrities raised Rf265,000 (US$20,500) for patients.

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Dengue hospital situation “stable”, despite high patient demand

Hospitals in the capital have said they continue to screen significant numbers of patients for dengue fever, yet claim that the situation remains “stable” as authorities raise fears that an ongoing outbreak of the virus may be more persistent than originally thought.

As officials today confirmed that a 41 year old man from Addu Atoll had become the eighth person to have died during the latest dengue outbreak, health care representatives in the capital have said that they remain “busy” dealing with cases and had not yet seen significant declines in patients coming through their doors suspected of contracting the virus.

After declaring this week that the current outbreak of the virus around Male’ and several islands was being treated as an “epidemic”, the government has since established a task force to try and coordinate its ministries, the military and NGOs in preventing further spreads of dengue. The task force was originally budgeted to run for seven days, by which time the situation was expected to be under control.

However, upon admitting yesterday that the suspected number of dengue cases in the country had slightly risen after a perceived fall in infection rates earlier during the week, a media spokesperson for the task force suggested that the operations were now likely to run beyond the original seven day time-frame.

Meanwhile, for hospitals on the front-line of dealing with the “epidemic,” the Clinic, a Male’-based private hospital, has said it has been busy collaborating with the task force in trying to identify infection cases.

A spokesperson for the Clinic, which begun offering free dengue fever screening services on Tuesday (July 5), said it was continuing to receive a steady number of patients looking for dengue testing and had been working to the emergency protocols recently imposed by the government.

“At the moment I don’t think we are seeing the number of patients [with suspected dengue] going down,” she said. “From the first day [of the screening service], we have received large number of pediatric enquiries regarding dengue infections among children, though adults are coming for testing now in large numbers.“

Panic fears

The Clinic spokesperson revealed that the medical centre remained concerned about the impact panic was having on the general public.  She said this this concern reflected the limited amount of knowledge about the symptoms and severity of dengue fever within Maldivian society as a whole.

“Trying to create knowledge [about dengue] among the public is one of the main challenges we are facing. People who may have symptoms are sometimes sitting at home and relaxing trying to overcome the fever, which means that some cases of the virus are being missed,” she said.

“Dengue fever has to be better managed by people. Members of the public with the virus need to take more fluids, but they are lacking awareness of this.”

The spokesperson added that the Clinic was currently working to put together a leaflet that she said would try and provide more details about the virus.  During the current panic over dengue infections, the Clinic spokesperson suggested that some members of the public were staying at home instead of coming to be checked.

Despite concerns that the public may begin inundating hospitals beyond their capacity as a result of panic over the virus, Cathy Waters, Chief Executive of Male’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) said that increased patient numbers were to be expected during an outbreak like that presently taking place in the country.

“We have seen a lot of children being bought in by relatives because of the virus. I think that some panic is to be expected as people are concerned about dengue, but the situation is definitely stable here at the hospital,” she said. “I think the message has got out about the virus and its symptoms and people are responding to this.”

In trying to treat patients found to be suffering from the effects of dengue, Waters said that the hospital had moved to adapt additional wards and services to dealing specifically on trying to deal with the ongoing dengue outbreak, yet she added that the overall situation was under control.

“At the moment we would describe the situation as relatively stable, but definitely very busy here,” said the hospital chief executive. “We have set up an additional fever clinic, which means people can be seen relatively quickly for testing and then be given the necessary treatment.”

Waters added that the current dengue situation had required the hospital to develop contingency plans to allow for the provision of increased bed capacity as well as bringing in additional nurses to cope with demand.

The hospital chief executive said that this had in certain cases meant that some surgeries had to be cancelled to accommodate dengue testing and treatment, a situation that would continue to be reviewed regularly to ensure patient demands were being met as best fitted the situation.

The government taskforce has said that it is expecting to address members of the media concerning the latest developments later this evening.

While pledging to support efforts to try and cut dengue infection rates in the country, opposition politicians have been critical of the speed by which the government has responded to the present outbreak.

Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef, Spokesperson for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), saidthat he believed that the government had “bungled” their response to trying to control dengue fever.

“From what we have seen the government is just not doing enough. We don’t believe they have been willfully negligent, but there has been negligence in their approach [to dengue outbreak],” he claimed. “They have not responded fast enough, which could be inexperience on their part. But I think this will be a wake-up call for them to change policy in dealing with these type of situations.”

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Maldives customs reveal million rufiya heroin haul

The Maldives Customs Service has said it last month foiled a “major” attempt to smuggle Rf1 million worth of heroin int0 the country after 100 packets of the drug were found to have been swallowed by a Pakistani national.

Customs representative Mohamed Ibrahim told Minivan News today that 100 packets of “high-grade” heroin,  a combined total weight of 797 grammes, were found to have been swallowed by a 23 year-old male from Pakistan when he had arrived at Male’ International Airport on June 25. Police are now said to be investigating the case, which is said to remain at an early stage.

The seizure come as the government pledges to crackdown on the sale, packing and distribution of hard drugs in the country.

In committing to this crackdown, Mohamed Ibrahim said the challenge of detecting drug packages that have been swallowed by smugglers was nothing new for customs and did not require authorities to review their screening processes in the future. The customs spokesperson claimed it had made similar “significant seizures” in the past.

However, Ibrahim added that the financial value of drugs found during the seizure was particularly significant.
“[The seizure] was worth quite a lot. Heroin like this is very expensive when you compare it to cannabis leaf or hash oil,” he said.

Just last month, the government has vowed to crackdown further upon significant players within the country’s hard drugs trade.  Police announced on June 24 that they had arrested an individual suspected of being one of the country’s most high-profile drug kingpins following months of investigation.

About 896 grammes of drugs were said to have been discovered inside the suspect’s apartment during its investigation. The apartment, which was rented in a building belonging to MP ‘Redwave’ Ahmed Saleem, contained a number of tools that could be used to pack drugs, while powdered narcotics were also found, according to police. Saleem was not himself linked to the drug operation.

Speaking following the police raid last month, President Mohamed Nasheed promised a more compassionate approach would be adopted for dealing with the country’s addict population. However, he additionally pledged to directly target any individuals profiting from the trade of substances like heroin, even if it led back to friends or family.

“We can seize the hard drugs that enter the country. We can find out how it enters, too. And as I envision it we can stop [the trafficking]. While undertaking these efforts, it is now becoming very much certain to me…for example, what happened the other day [the raid] was the sort of thing I find quite shocking,” he said. “800 packets of heroin a night were getting sealed in the house of an honourable member of parliament. 800 packets of heroin were being distributed in the ground floor of this house. True, there might be no connection between the MP and his house to the people doing [the drug dealing]. But what I know is, in my home, in my own home…the laws of the country definitely say this. That I should know what happens in my own home, under my own shelter.”

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Task force fears slight increase in dengue infections despite recent declines

A representative for a government-appointed taskforce working to coordinate responses to a national dengue fever outbreak has claimed provisional data has indicated a slight increase in infections over the last 24 hours – days after cases appeared to be declining.

Earlier this week, the government labelled the latest outbreak of dengue fever across the country as an “epidemic“ on the back of growing concerns about infection rates.   By Tuesday (July 7), the outbreak had been linked to the death of seven people within a week, with a number of children reported among the fatalities.

Although today’s figures are yet to be officially released at the time of going to press, a media spokesperson for the taskforce told Minivan News that case numbers once again appeared to have increased.   However, the spokesperson claimed that the anticipated increase in infection rates was not thought to be “significant” in comparison to numbers recorded earlier this week.

“We had believed that the number of [dengue] cases was being reduced. However have seen figures that suggest the number of cases were increasing again,” the spokesperson said.

The claims were made despite previous predictions that the present outbreak of the virus was beginning to be brought under control and was in decline.

On Monday (July 4), the dengue taskforce said that it had expected the current outbreak to be fully under control within seven days. The claims followed the release of official figures supplied by the same coordination body that indicated that 11 suspected cases of dengue were reported July 4, compared to 16 cases recorded Sunday (July 3) and 18 cases the day before that.

2011 spike

A media spokesperson for the taskforce said earlier this week that while dengue outbreaks were nothing new in the Maldives, the number of suspected cases of the virus that traditionally were expected to drop by this time of year had in fact spiked.

The spokesperson added that this apparent spike in infections had created a number of coordination difficulties for the new system of local administration put in place following the country’s first local council elections in February.

“Compared to last year, during these dates, figures usually go down.  However, this month, there has been a spike [in numbers of dengue infection cases],” he said. “When the local councils took over [collecting data about the virus from the Health Ministry], the whole process was stalled, nothing was moving.”

The spokesperson said at the time that there was insufficient research to identify the exact factors driving a suspected spike in infection numbers of late. However, he claimed there had been “many internal and administrative problems” that when combined with the country’s wet season – resulting from the south west monsoon that runs from May to November – may have served to exacerbate the impacts of the outbreak.

According to the task force spokesperson, the decision to hand over the responsibility for detailing information on the spread of dengue from the Health Ministry to island councils had initially raised notable problems for the government; though these issues were now being resolved.

“There were some problems in getting councillors initially to work on weekends, but I think everyone has understood the severity of the outbreak,” he added.

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has continued to maintain that the government had acted too slowly in its initial response in dealing with dengue outbreaks.  However, the party has said it will cooperate with the government where possible to try and support efforts to limit the further spread of the virus.

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Media bodies slam police questioning of reporter accuracy

The police service has come under renewed criticism from media bodies like the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) over claims it continues to stifle free speech by questioning reporters over both the identity of sources and the accuracy of their stories.

The MJA’s concerns relate specifically to the recent decision by police to summon DhiFM News Editor Mohamed Jinah Ali for questioning to prove the accuracy of a news report from December 29, 2010.  The report itself alleged that an international standard O’ Level examination paper was leaked and found hidden in a fish container in the country.

MJA founder and President, Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir, has told Minivan News that he is “very worried” that police were operating outside of their constitutional role by questioning journalists and media outlets over the accuracy of news reports. Similar concerns have been shared by the Maldives Media Council (MMC), which has said it also holds reservations over the nature of police questioning of journalists, despite itself calling for more professionalism and training within the national media.

In addressing these criticisms, Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed to Minivan News that authorities had spoken with the DhiFM editor in regards to the examination paper story, after it received complaints concerning the accuracy of the report and its relation to an ongoing investigation.

“Before we go ahead with any case on this matter, we needed to confirm if [DhiFM] are standing by their story,” Shiyam said. “We requested that if the story is true, then the reporter had to prove the details to us.”

The Department of Public Examinations that oversees handling of the papers has reportedly denied there is any truth to claims in the report that an international examination had been leaked.

According to police, the DhiFM report had claimed that an unidentified source within the Department of Public Examinations had revealed details of the alleged loss of the examination paper.

However, in responding to concerns from organisations like the MJA that it was for specialised authorities like the MMC and not the police to decide upon the legitimacy of a story, Shiyam said that law enforcement authorities had to respond to complaints received by members of the public, even in regards to the media.

“We don’t want to have to deal with issues like this, but there are presently many problems with the report,” he said. “Once we have confirmed whether the report is factual or not, then we will decide whether to send any case to the media council (MMC).”

However, the Police sub-inspector was unable to share the exact nature of the its concerns or the complaints made regarding the report when asked by Minivan News.

In responding to the police questioning of the DhiFM editor, MJA president Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir claimed that whether the report was true or not, the country had a specific journalism authority in the MMC that deals with potential issues of ethics and professionalism in the media. Hiriga said that he believed it therefore remained important to keep the police from overseeing media in this way.

The MJA founder gave a hypothetical example of the problems he believed police questioning posed for the media. Hiriga pointed out that if the media was confronted by a source within police detailing possible unethical practices by law enforcement officials, the media should be free to report this without possible prosecution.

“This really raises questions over freedom of expression in the country,” he said. “I don’t know if the report is true or not, but it is not the role of the police to decide this.”

Hiriga added that the country’s journalists were also protected under article 28 of the Maldives’ constitution. This article prevents reporters from having to give up the identities of their sources to police if they did not wish to do so.

The President of the Maldives Media Council (MMC) Mohamed Nazeef said that it had been made aware of the questioning issue by DhiFM, but added that no decision had been taken yet on its next course of action.

Nazeef added that he was concerned however that police had appeared to become involved in deciding upon issues of media ethics and the factual nature of an article’s content, which was the main purpose of the MMC.  The media council, which has an elected board of eight representatives from the media and seven public members, has stated aims of trying to safeguard a free national press that acts in a responsible manner, as well as reviewing complaints over coverage.

Rather than a problem that should be seen solely as an issue for police to resolve though, the MMC president said that it was important for society as a whole to break away from a long-standing culture of looking to punish the media for its reportage.

“There is a culture within society to want to punish the media through measures like giving prison sentences to journalists for their reporting. The way of thinking has changed now and we can’t penalise the media just because of something we might not like,” he claimed. “However, I think we need to see changes both within the media and the public too.  Society needs to accept that media is now free and can report on any issue, while the media has to be more professional in how it reports the news and trains journalists.”

As a wider concern, media freedom – and the industry’s responsibility in exercising it – has remained a prevalent issues for the country during the last year, both in terms of the right of police to question reporters and editorial independence.

Back in May, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) released a report entitled ‘Press Freedom in Peril‘ relating to the South Asia region that claimed there were a number of issues in the Maldives where “discord between journalists and the government is rife”.

In the findings, SAMSN stated that “going beyond the perception-based indexes of press freedom that have put Maldives among the most rapidly improving countries in terms of media reform, there are certain difficulties that journalists in the nation continue to face, even if these are not reflected in the broad numerical indexes, which are admittedly of limited value.”

However, the Maldivian media – including the government-owned Maldives National Broadcasting Company (MNBC) – is frequently accused of overt political bias in favouring one or other of the major political parties, viewed as a legacy of decades of autocratic governance and a state-controlled media establishment.

Several opposition-allied MPs and businessmen remain key owners of much of the country’s private media, and visiting journalism trainers have previously voiced concerns from young Maldivian journalists that senior editorial management obstruct them from reporting ethically.

Iraq Editorial Manager for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), Tiare Rath, observed in September 2010 following a series of journalism workshops that “one of the major issues all my students talked about is resistance among newsroom leadership – editors and publishers.”

“Even if the journalists support and understand the principles being taught, they consistently tell me they cannot apply them,” Rath said.
“This is a very, very serious problem that needs to be addressed.”

However, despite the issues of self-regulation facing the media, local press associations have continued to raise concerns about the conduct of police in questioning journalists over controversial and politically sensitive issues.

In February, the MJA spoke out along with other prominent media figures like the editor of the Haveeru newspaper to criticise police for requesting to speak with some of its journalists regarding the identity of sources on which it based a report.

The story focused on an alleged blackmail ring that reportedly obtained pornographic images of some high-profile national figures through the internet, which has been the basis of an ongoing police investigation. Haveeru said at the time that its staff declined to reveal the identities of its sources.

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Task force claims dengue “epidemic” under control despite coordination concerns

The task force appointed by the government to combat a dengue fever outbreak linked to the deaths of seven people has claimed it is beginning to bring the spread of the virus under control, despite initial difficulties in coordinating with local councils.

A spokesperson for the task force, which has been put in charge of coordinating the responses of government ministries, the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) and NGOs like the Red Crescent, has said it has overcome initial difficulties such as dealing with local councils in trying to curb virus infection rates.

In a week where authorities have labelled the latest outbreak of dengue fever across the country as an “epidemic“, opposition parties have been critical of both the speed and nature of the government’s response to these concerns, despite welcoming efforts to try and combat the virus.

The criticisms come after newspaper Haveeru reported that a four-year old boy, who had been brought to Male’ for treatment of dengue fever, had become the seventh person in the last week to have died from the virus.

Despite fears of the virus continuing to spread, for those charged with coordinating the country’s dengue control programme, “significant progress” is claimed to have been made over the last few days in collecting data and trying to understand the full scale of the current outbreak and how to contain it.

At present, the taskforce overseeing this national response the to dengue fever has said that it expects the current outbreak to be fully under control within a week.  The claims have been backed by official figures supplied by the same coordination body that indicated that 11 suspected cases of dengue were reported today, compared to 16 cases recorded yesterday and 18 cases the day before.

Speaking to Minivan News today, the task force’s media spokesperson said that while dengue outbreaks were nothing new in the Maldives, the number of suspected cases of the virus that traditionally were expected dropped by this time of year had in fact spiked. The spokesperson added that this apparent spike in infections had created a number of coordination difficulties for a new system of local government put in place following the country’s first local council elections in February.

“Compared to last year, during these dates, figures usually go down. However, this month, there has been a spike [in numbers of dengue cases],” he said. “When the local councils took over [collecting data about the virus from the Health Ministry], the whole process was stalled, nothing was moving.”

The spokesperson said that there was insufficient research to identify the exact factors driving a suspected spike in infection numbers of late.  However, he claimed there had been “many internal and administrative problems” that when combined with the country’s wet season – resulting from the south west monsoon that runs from May to November – may have served to exacerbate the impacts of the outbreak.

According to the task force spokesperson, the decision to hand over the responsibility for detailing information on the spread of dengue from the Health Ministry to island councils had initially raised notable problems for the government; though these issues were now being resolved.

“There were some problems in getting councillors initially to work on weekends, but I think everyone has understood the severity of the outbreak,” he added.

While no “drastic” changes had been made in the methods used by authorities themselves to combat dengue fever infections, the taskforce representative said that the key focus for efforts both now and during any future “epidemics” would be in trying to ensure that the mechanisms for coordination were working efficiently.

“In the future, this task force will have helped with this, because we are getting important data and contacts,” the representative said.

With the task force currently budgeted to run for seven days, the body’s media spokesperson said that no decision had yet been made on whether similar initiatives would be used during future outbreaks, yet he was confident that important lessons could be learnt from the current system.

“I think the task force will help to administer preventative measures during outbreaks in the future. Building a fixed system out of this existing network will be very helpful,” he said. “There has been a change in how government works, so people have had difficulties in adjusting to this and awareness of requirements has been low. Councils also have to realise their responsibilities as well.”

The task force spokesperson claimed that preventative measures for dengue also needed to focus on members of the public in areas like education at schools, as well as improving hygiene in houses and carrying out inspections at construction sites to limit mosquito breeding grounds.

“I think the basic thing is to get this system in place, like in schools, things like education on personal hygiene and dealing with councils,” he said. “If these don’t work, then every time we can’t always go to the MNDF for assistance.”

“Bungled” response

Despite the task force representative’s claims, Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef, Spokesperson for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), saidthat he believed that the government had “bungled” their response to trying to control dengue fever. Shareef added that although the DRP welcomed and would cooperate with the government in efforts to try and limit the spread of the virus, he said that authorities had acted too slowly in trying to deal with the outbreak.

“From what we have seen the government is just not doing enough. We don’t believe they have been willfully negligent, but there has been negligence in their approach [to dengue outbreak],” he claimed. “They have not responded fast enough, which could be inexperience on their part. But I think this will be a wake-up call for them to change policy in dealing with these type of situations.”

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Industry seeks “grace period” for overhauling employee living conditions

Business organisations and labour rights groups have called on the government for more time to address proposed amendments to the Employment Act that will drastically shake up living standards for foreign and local workers employed within the Maldives.

The Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports has today invited comments on the new proposals requiring all employers within the country to ensure that specific standards of living quarters are being provided to staff such as those living on resorts or construction sites.

The proposed amendments to the Employment Act outline new requirements for staff accommodation that include providing a clear separation of work and private space, sufficient artificial or natural light, purpose built kitchen areas and specific health and safety standards.

From the perspective of employers, Mohamed Ali Janah, President of the Maldives Association of Construction Industry (MACI), said that despite certain negative perceptions of the industry over treatment of its workers, beyond a few bad examples, there was a willingness to improve treatment of staff.

“Any improvement [to worker’s living conditions] we would welcome. Yet, with any improvements there is a cost attached to this,” he said.

Speaking to Minivan News, Janah said that he believed that the proposed amendments to workers’ living conditions would impact on the cost of construction work in the Maldives.  He said implementing such living standard changes would therefore require a grace period of around one year to allow businesses and their customers to adapt to the changes.

The MACI president claimed that in an already highly competitive marketplace,  society, rather than the construction industry alone, would have to accept some of the financial burden to offset the higher costs of accommodating workers to the standard proposed by the Human Resources Ministry.

“This will definitely have an impact on proposed costs in the industry. Right now, in what is currently a competitive market. We are just managing to get through the economic situation,” he said.

Alongside the Employment Act regulations, Janah said that he believed that additional legislation relating to occupational health and safety was needed to be addressed both in terms of private and government contracts – an issue he claimed was not always the case in negotiations for a construction project.

“The Maldives building code and health and safety requirements also need to be addressed along with these amendments,” he added.

Taking the example of what he believed were differences between the present and previous governments, the MACI president claimed that the implementation of a more structured national budget had meant that state building contracts were no longer a sure thing for building groups. These changes within the construction market were therefore seen as putting further pressure on building firms to try and cut costs while providing new residences for staff.

“[The accommodation proposals] are a good move, but there needs to be time for the industry to adapt,” Janah claimed. “There is awareness of the new requirements that needs to be created. I don’t believe penalizing companies would be the best practice and that a grace period of around a year would be a good time frame to address [the changes].”

Tourism workers

From a tourism industry perspective, worker’s organisations like the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) have criticised the decision to give just 15 days to provide feedback to the regulations proposed by the Human Resources Ministry.

TEAM President Ahmed Shihaam said that the association would be discussing its responses to the changes in accommodation within the next 24 hours, though had hoped the group would also have time to consult with tourism industry employers as well.

Shihaam claimed that a 15 day time-frame to respond to the regulations made it difficult to consult with important stakeholders like resort employers on the long-term implications of the proposals.

“Rather than days, we may need a month or so to address these issues properly, both with our members and the employers [the resorts themselves],” he said. “This is new to us all and the intention is not to make enemies.”

The Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), which represents a number of resort businesses operating in the country was unavailable for comment when contacted by Minivan News at the time of going to press.

In addressing the proposals for the Employment Act, Human Resources Minister Hassan Latheef said that the proposed new accommodation standards had been adapted from recommendations outlined by the International Labour Ogranisation (ILO), specifically in terms of sanitation conditions and room size.

Latheef claimed that the proposals would address many of the complaints and concerns received by the country’s Labour Relations Authority from Maldivian Workers concerning the conditions of their accomadation, particularly at resort level.
“Maldivians, rarely complain on the pursuit of [unpaid] salaries, most of the time, they complain about the conditions at work or their living conditions. Most of the complaints I should say come from resort workers,” he said. “Their complaints come from not being paid a service charge they are entitled to, to conditions of their accommodation and alleged discrimination from senior management.”

By comparison, Latheef claimed that about 95 percent of complaints received by the Labour Relations Authority from expatriate workers related to the alleged failure of an employer to pay their wages rather than living conditions.

Accommodation amendments

The proposals opened up to public consultation by the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports are scheduled to come into force four months after being published in the government gazette.

These requirements include:

  • Lodging should provide shelter from the natural elements, and be constructed using suitable materials
  • If a lodging is based at a work site, there should be a fence separating these two area at a distance of 1.5 metres
  • At entrance of lodging, a service provider’s name and contact number should be displayed along with the maximum number of people that can be accommodated
  • Lodgings should have enough daylight or artificial light as well as a means of letting air pass through
  • A single worker’s accommodation should equate to 6 square metres of living space at a height of 2.4 metres and an all round width of 1.8 metres
  • For 2 people sharing accommodation, there should 9 square metres of space that is 2.4 metres in height and 2.1 metres in width – each extra person after that should be supplied with 4.5 square metres of living space, 2.4 metres in height with a width of 2.1 metres
  • Rooms should be for separated by gender, unless workers are married
  • Lodgers should also have a means of locking away valuables
  • A toilet should be provided for every 10 people staying at a lodging
  • A sewerage system should be in place and constructed with permission from the relevant authorities
  • A kitchen should be supplied that is appropriate for the surroundings, while it’s forbidden to cook inside lodgings at construction sites
  • Employers or the service provider will be fined up to Rf5,000 for each failure of regulation that is recorded

More information on the measures can be found on the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports’ website.

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MNDF drafted to aid government dengue response over “epidemic” fears

The Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has been drafted in to help with efforts to try and control an outbreak of dengue fever that the government has described as “an epidemic”.

President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday announced that he had requested the assistance of defense forces in collecting information about the virus from island and atoll health councils after four deaths linked to the affliction were recorded in the space of two days.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Major Abdul Raheem of the MNDF confirmed that the country’s armed forces would be working within a wider government task force to try and establish ways of better controlling the spread of the virus.

The Maldives has been battling a growing number of dengue fever cases in 2011, with 300 cases and five deaths reported in just the first two months of the year. There has been a reported spike in the number of cases of the virus reported in Male’; cases that were linked earlier this year by one health expert to a construction boom in the capital. However, most of the fatalities have been islanders who died in transit to regional hospitals, with many of the most serious cases having affected children.

Raheem did not specify what exact role the MNDF would take in efforts to combat the virus, but added that the defence force would be working as part of a taskforce based within a male’ school to try and coordinate a response to the outbreak.

“This is the first time we have been involved in efforts to help fight dengue fever,” he said. “But we have experience in working to control other [diseases].”

In addressing concerns about incidents of dengue across the Maldives, President Nasheed yesterday said that the MNDF would be used to obtain information about the virus from atoll health authorities in conjunction with councils and the Local Government Authority overseeing their work.

With the current outbreak now being treated as an epidemic by the government, the president called on members of the public and everyone involved in disease control to provide genuine information about the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, anyone found to be providing falsified information is said to risk facing possible prosecution from the authorities, Nasheed warned in a press release.

Early symptoms of the virus include fever, joint paint and a distinctive rash and headache, although it can be difficult to distinguish from the milder Chikungunya disease that can last for up to five days. Even healthy adults can be left immobile by dengue for several weeks while the disease runs its course.

Government criticism

Despite announcing plans to take action against the disease, the government has come under some criticism this week within the Majlis for perceived failures in its handling of the local dengue situation.

Amongst the criticisms, People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla asked Health Minister Dr Aminath Jameel if she was considering resignation “since based on what is being said here your sector has very much failed,” Dr Jameel replied that she did not believe that was the case.

The health minister, replying to another question from MDP MP Ali Waheed during Tuesday’s (June 28) parliamentary session, said the ministry was providing information to islands through teleconferencing and stressed that controlling mosquito breeding grounds was key to combating the rise in dengue fever across the country.

“Mosquitoes don’t travel very far,” she explained. “Therefore, it’s mosquitoes from nearby areas that are spreading it. Controlling mosquito [breeding] is needed from the public and individuals as well. We are working together with island councils and the Male’ City Council.”

Jameel claimed that the Addu City Council had also taken up initiatives and organised activities to try and combat dengue.

“An additional problem that we encounter is the quick turnover of doctors in the country’s hospitals and health centres,” she said. “So they are not very familiar with the protocol here. We are facing that problem as well. But as I’ve said, this can’t solved without controlling mosquito [breeding].”

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